1. Field of the Invention
This disclosure relates to the detecting of a flame, specifically one ignited for the use of smoking tobacco in areas where smoking is prohibited or illegal. The invention relates specifically to deceiving the smoker into thinking no detection equipment is present to detect his nefarious activity by disguising the detection equipment in the form of an object one would normally expect to see in the surroundings where smoking is prohibited, such as an emergency fire sprinkler head, or concealing the detection equipment within a room deodorant housing, a loudspeaker grille, a ventilation grille, or a smoke detector, as examples.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Smoke detectors have been used in the past to signal the presence of smoke within an enclosed space accessible to the general public, such as any room or more specifically a lavatory. Generally smoke from smoking tobacco is of insufficient quantity to activate a smoke detector designed to sense smoke from a fire that may be damaging to property and personnel. Smoking is illegal in educational institutions; nevertheless, smoking is often covertly practiced, especially in school lavatories and lounges. Smoke detectors are often not sufficiently sensitive to detect smoke from clandestine smoking, especially, where efforts are made to disperse the smoke from the room, as by smoking near an exhaust vent or an open window.
A solution to this problem has been presented in the form of flame detectors; equipment that detects not the smoke from smoking tobacco, but the radiant energy from a flame that is used to ignite the tobacco. Applicant has sold such equipment and has achieved a modicum of success with such a product. A shortcoming of such a product is that its presence and its purpose are quite obvious, so steps may be taken by the aware clandestine smoker to avoid the direct line-of-sight exposure to the detector, in the best-case scenario, or steps may be taken to compromise or incapacitate the equipment.
Thus it is an object of this invention to provide flame-detecting equipment of a type that is disguised as a normally-expected article in the environment in which it is placed for monitoring smoking, thereby to detectxe2x80x94and to report, even to a remote location for prompt interventionxe2x80x94the prohibited covert smoking activity.
It is an object of this invention to provide an alarm system for surreptitiously detecting and reporting the presence of a flame within the confines of a room, said alarm system comprising: a detection element capable of receiving and reacting to electromagnetic radiation generated by a flame, thereby to generate a first signal; electronic components to process said first signal for activating a second signal that warms of the presence of a flame; and wherein said detection element is within direct view of at least a portion of said room and is incorporated into an object that appears as an object normally present in said room.
It is an object of this invention to disguise electronic flame-detecting equipment as the discharge head of an emergency fire extinguishing or suppression system.
It is an object of this invention to conceal electronic flame-detecting equipment in a housing that appears to be for dispensing room deodorant.
It is an object of this invention to conceal electronic flame-detecting equipment in a housing that appears to be for dispensing toilet bowl deodorant.
It is an object of this invention to conceal electronic flame-detecting equipment in a housing that appears to be a smoke detector.
It is an object of this invention to conceal electronic flame-detecting equipment behind a grille for an air vent.
It is an object of this invention to conceal electronic flame-detecting equipment behind the grille of a loudspeaker housing.
It is an object of this invention to provide electronic flame-detecting equipment in which a triggering signal is communicated on a radio signal to a remote alarm station.
It is an object of this invention to provide electronic flame-detecting equipment in which a triggering signal is communicated via a wire or cable to a remote alarm station.
These and other objects of this invention will be made clear in the following description.